Adam's mind freely drifted. He remembered scenes from his childhood, but they seemed from a different perspective. It was as though he was looking down on himself from an adult's perspective. A while later, the memories became more vivid, but they did not belong to Adam!

In the memory, Adam walked out of his home late at night, dressed as a city guardsman. In the night, he met up with some familiar faces. Adam remembered Dallen and Hansen the most. Just as their night patrol started, they saw a plume of black fire in the distance! Quickly, they all went in the direction of the black flames to protect the citizens of Fort Erich! Fighting on the front line against a horde of ghouls, Adam saw a group of three come out of a side ally to be knocked down by a black figure! A little boy stood up to attack the black figure, but fell by the figure's blade! A girl then stood up to protect the boy, only to be cut down as well! Adam raced across to fight the black figure that stood, chuckling at the tragic scene. Adam crazily fought the figure with Hansen by his side. Eventually, Adam took a hit in order to lock the figure down so Hansen could behead it! Black blood splattered everywhere, including on Adam. After that, Adam was brought over to the three. His mother and oddly his childhood self was brought away, leaving him to die on the street with his long dead sister. The memory then faded to black...

Not long after, the memory continued, but was very hazy and dark. Being dragged along the road and then finding himself in the plane of death. A few memories passed of time among a horde of ghouls before Adam found himself at the edge of the horde. Before him was a portal stone surrounded by six dragons! They waited for the portal stone to come to life and form a dark portal above! One of the dragons tried to go through, but it was suddenly flung back as another dragon rammed the first and ended up in the plane of death! The new dragon launched a lightning bolt at portal stone and caused it to explode! The six dragons then set themselves upon the new dragon, killing it! As they did so, a deep connection was felt with the dragon as it's soul was pulled toward Adam. The memory faded...

Adam's mind began to stir as he came to a startling and horrifying realization. These were not his memories, but the memories of the ghoul he possessed! What's worse: “The ghoul I possessed is my father!”

Adam thought back to what was said about how his father had died. He had been stabbed and then died, but he hadn't died from bleeding out! The toxic blood from his liver entered the rest of his body and that's what killed him. To a ghoul, such a wound would not matter! The wound his father received must not have been enough to cause him to fully bleed out, otherwise he would never have become a ghoul.

Adam felt anguish in his heart: “All this time, we had assumed father had died with Emilia. That he had accompanied her in death. But that isn't what happened! He has been alive as a ghoul this whole time! Emilia... she was left all alone until mother joined her...”

Adam reached out to his father's soul. He had seen his father's memories, maybe they could communicate somehow? Adam sent a small amount of spirit essence out in a thread: “Father?”

Alaric's soul only squirmed a little and did not seem to try and talk back. It was as though his soul was in a dazed state and really didn't have any idea on what was going on. Adam recalled some of the memories he received from his father after Alaric had become a ghoul. They were extremely hazy, which gave credence to the idea that Alaric's soul was dazed and really had no idea what was going on.

Adam's soul was latched onto Alaric's. From where he was, Adam didn't have a good way to tell what was going on. “I need to stretch into father's soul in order to share his senses. Then figure out things from there.”

Adam stretched out threads of death essence into his father's soul, much like he had done with Jira long ago. Adam's only intention was to gain access to his father's senses, but something surprising happened! Whether it was because Alaric was only a common ghoul or because it was his son stretching into his soul, Alaric's soul switched places with Adam! It was now Alaric's soul on the outside, being held onto by Adam!

This surprised Adam a lot and he became severely worried. His father did not have the same kind of protection for his soul as Adam did. Adam quickly sent out more threads of death essence to surround his father's soul to ensure that it did not simply slip away and disperse.

After having done that, Adam finally surveyed himself and his surroundings. Alaric's body was full of death essence, to the point that it made it difficult for Adam to control! Adam was only a small part of what he was when he was a dragon, but he had far more experience than he had when he first came to the plane of death. It would take some time, but Adam felt he could slowly gain deft control over Alaric's body.

Unlike Jira, Adam was able to see through his father's eyes. He was in the middle of a field of ghouls. Fearing that his horde belonged to one of those six dragons that had ganged up to kill him, Adam looked for a large hulking figure among the crowd... he couldn't see a dragon anywhere! Adam felt slightly relieved. Still he thought: “Better be careful, though. They could just be in their Human-form and I can't pick them out from the crowd.”

Adam turned his attention back to his current predicament. He had a difficult decision before him: “I don't think it is right to just take father's body. Where would his soul go? I can't just kill my father! I could try and take over one of the other ghouls around here, but I also can't just leave father like this! What should I do?”

In the midst of his thoughts, Adam heard something. The sound was similar to the sound of death essence, but more like chatter. The sound was oddly familiar and it took Adam a moment to place it; it was the chatter of that spirit that had followed Adam the last time he was in the plane of death! Adam closed his eyes and concentrated on his elemental sight. His soul was weakened, but he could still use the death essence in Alaric's body that he was now somewhat in control of. Adam was able to spread his elemental sight out for about thirty meters around him.

Not too far away, Adam could see a spirit dancing in glee! He could now hear the spirit as it exclaimed to itself: “He's back! He's back! He's finally back! I can't believe it!”

Adam wasn't sure what to think when he saw this. Obviously, it was another eccentric spirit. Adam had some sour feelings toward it, though. Not only had it caused him to loose his mind and black out numerous times, it even used threads of death essence to try and take his soul while he was fighting Jira!

Adam's control over Alaric's body still wasn't that great. He couldn't form words with Alaric's mouth at this point! So instead, he sent a thread of death essence out to communicate. “I was here before, are you the spirit that followed me through the plane of death?”

The spirit immediately stopped. “Y-y-y-y-you can talk to me!? Can you see me!?”

“Yes.”

The spirit immediately started spinning in circles faster and faster: “Oh, joyous of days! We can finally talk!”

The spirit then zoomed to Adam and started spinning in fast circles around him: “I have soooooo many questions to ask you!”

“So, you are the spirit that followed me?”

The spirit bobbed excitedly. “Yes! You are actually the reason for my existence!”

This last statement both surprised and confused Adam. He asked: “How so?”

“Your soul is very unique. When you came through into the plane of death, I formed myself to investigate the uniqueness of your soul! Very few spirits form for any reason about the soul since we have no control over them, but how could I just ignore you!? Something about the uniqueness of your soul called to me and I answered! When you first came through, you were being consumed by the death essence in this plane, so I helped curbed it a bit for you so you could live here without your soul being corrupted! Unfortunately, my existence as a spirit of death agitated the death essence in your body, disturbing the balance I created for you! I could only watch you from afar. There were a few times where I thought your soul was strong enough that I could get close and we could talk, but each time your soul became muddled by the agitated death essence in your body. Now, though, we can freely talk!”

Adam thought back to his last trip through the plane of death. Some of it made more sense now. Why he survived, where others could not. Why the spirit kept following him and causing him to loose his mind. Ever since Adam had first become a spiritualist, he had been a unique oddity. Now, it seemed it was even more unique than he had previously thought! His mere presence in a spirit plane caused a spirit to be formed to investigate him and the uniqueness of his soul!

Still, it did nothing to curb the sourness he felt toward the spirit. Adam pointedly asked: “When I was fighting the ghoul Captain Jira, why did you try to take my soul from me!? I might have survived if you had not done that!”

The spirit cowed a little: “Don't be angry, I thought you were going to die for sure! I was trying to save your soul! We hadn't even been able to talk and that big meanie was going to kill you and make your soul go away!”

“You did it to save my soul?”

“Yes. Maybe, we could talk after some time. Together, we could discover the uniqueness of your soul! But if you just up and went away, my existence would have no meaning! I had to at least save your soul!”

Adam gave a hard look at the quivering spirit. Its words seemed genuine and right now, it seemed like a frightened little puppy. Unable to hold anything against the spirit, Adam sighed and moved on: “I'm also assuming you were the one who somehow taught me how to use threads of death essence?”

Glad to move the subject on, the spirit bobbed. “One of the times, I tried to continue talking to you after your soul became muddled. I told you about a method to control death essence, hoping that it would somehow get through! Afterwards, you might finally be strong enough for us to talk! It seemed like a success and you would eventually become strong enough for us to talk, but you met that big meanie first!”

The spirit seemed to be knowledgeable. At least, it was as close to a scholar as Adam figured spirits could get. Perhaps it knew of a way to help Adam with his current problem.

Adam asked: “I don't suppose you know of a way to turn a ghoul back into a normal human?”

“Nope, why?”

Adam gave a depressed sigh: “It turns out that the ghoul I am possessing is my father! We had all thought him long dead. I don't really want to kill him, but I can't leave him like this either...”

The spirit floated along for a moment before saying: “Sorry, but it is impossible. Maybe something could be done if they had just turned, but all the ghouls that come to the spirit planes are permanently changed!”

Thinking about it, Adam remembered how the spirit of life had actually purified him of a lot of death essence. “Wait, can't we purify him with life essence? A spirit of life did that to me right after I had escaped the plane of death, long ago!”

The spirit jumped: “A life spirit did that to you!? I'm surprised you're still alive!”

It then stood still a moment before saying: “I don't think that will work for your father. His soul is weaker than yours was. Death essence is pretty much all that is holding him together. Even if you flush his body with life essence, he can only become a ghoul of life essence! You were not a true ghoul when you underwent that purification, as your soul was still your own. It only worked because of that!”

Adam thought on the spirit's words. He wanted to refute them, but he could sense the truth. He thought to himself: “Even if father survived and didn't become a ghoul of life essence, he would be as weak as I was after the process. Without a way to control spirit essence to gradually subdue the remaining death essence in his body and restore a form of balance, he will only live the life of a cripple for a few years before dying! Why put father through that suffering?”

The spirit then said: “The relationship between a father and son is special, right? You may not be able to save him, but you could protect and follow his soul until it reaches its destination!”

Adam asked: “What are you talking about?”

“I have discovered that there is indeed what others call the 'true soul'. It is the part of your soul that is truly you! All the spirit essence that forms your soul, forms around this single part and is controlled by it! If you release your father's soul, his true soul will seek its resting place! Initially, a soul will remain in the plane for a few moments before penetrating through the plane into the desolate flow! I have never been able to follow them since I would have to go all the way to edge of the plain of death in order to step into that space from there. Even then, I can only follow the passageways between the plans! I can't step off the passageways myself, but you can! You can take me with you and together, we can see where it is that souls go when their bodies die and you can protect your father along the way!”

Adam pondered on the spirit's words. “I'm kind of following. What is the desolate flow and these passageways? I have never heard of them before.”

“That's only obvious. We spirits can travel more freely between planes than you humans! Hmm, let me think of some good analogies... Ah, I got it!”

“To start out with, imagine islands in the ocean. The planes are the islands and the desolate flow is the ocean! The desolate flow is dangerous for spirits as we get ripped and pulled apart out there! Few spirits who have braved the desolate flow have ever returned!

Adam seemed doubtful: “And you think I can survive in a place that rips spirits apart?”

The spirit bobbed: “The desolate flow isn't actually what rips at us. Little to no spirit essence exists in the desolate flow. This is because it is all drawn to the planes, the passageways, and your world! If a spirit goes out into the desolate flow, they get pulled equally by all three of these! It is the planes, passageways, and your world that pull us apart! You are different, though. Spirits are made of ourselves, simply and purely. We have no physical shape or form. You, on the other hand, do! I believe that is enough to give you safe passage!”

“As for the passageways, they are the only safe places in the desolate flow. They are like a bridge between islands. From the plane of death, there is a passageway to both the planes of wind and fire!The passageways are the only way to travel between the planes!”

Adam asked: “What about portal stones? Can't you use them?”

“Portal stones only work between a plane and your world! They do not work between the planes. That is a much more complicated situation than I would like to explain. Rather than that, what do you say? Shall we take and adventure through the desolate flow? Ooh, just thinking about gets me pumped!”

Adam thought about it further: “If we could find the place where souls go, it would change everything we know! We would finally know for a fact that there was a place where souls went! Maybe there, I could talk to father. Maybe I could even meet mother, my sister, my daughter and even Helen!”

Adam turned to the spirit. “Okay, but we have to test it first. We'll go to the passageway and see what happens. If I feel something is off, I will not continue with it.”

The spirit started spinning in circles: “Yay!”

It then started going off in a direction: “Follow me!”

Adam started following while asking: “The commander of the group of ghouls won't notice us leaving, will he?”

“That pea brain? He looses ghouls all the time! He won't notice us gone.”

The spirit led Adam on a trip across the plane of death. With no sun, Adam was unable to keep track of time. It seemed to him that they must have traveled for at least a year, most likely longer. It gave Adam the time to properly bring the death essence in Alaric's body under control.

Finally, Adam could see their destination in the distance. The 'edge' of the plane was a vast wall of distorted air that went from the ground, all the way up into the sky! It was like a giant rift! All across the horizon that Adam could see, that wall extended. As they got closer, Adam noticed that the distortion was also like a mirror. You could not see through it, but it reflected the world back at you.

The spirit led Adam to a particular part along the distortion. “Here. This is where the passageway is!”

It looked no different than any other part of the distorted wall, but Adam trusted the spirit would not lead him astray. Adam nodded to the spirit. In his father's voice, he spoke: “Alright, let's see how it goes!”

Adam stepped forward into the distortion!